Media Release: Friday 10 March 2017

End of rail for Northland

“The multi million dollar, four lane highway carrot dangled in front of voters to show that National really does care about the North spells the death knell for rail transportation in Northland”, according to Democrats for Social Credit deputy leader, Chris Leitch.

That spend will likely blow out to more than $600 million by the time the project is completed, and means effectively that rail will be starved for funds and mothballed permanently.

Rail has the potential to most rapidly make the trip to or from Auckland safer by taking hundreds of heavy truckloads off the whole length of the journey as opposed to only 22 kilometres.

Northland has been starved of road and rail funding for decades, so why is a major upgrade being undertaken to a small section of road that is already one of the best on the Northland to Auckland trip?

I challenge Northland’s civic and business leaders, who have been jumping for joy since last Saturday’s announcement, to show where this four lane Ruakaka road project is a priority in the 6 year Regional Land Transport Plan.

I challenge them to show why the spend on this road project is better value for money than spending it on upgrading the rail corridor and building a connection to the port.

I challenge them to go back to the Minister and tell him that he’s made the wrong decision, and that the money should be spent on rail instead.

If they choose not to do so, they will have been responsible for signing the death warrant for rail in Northland.

Ends

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